Chapter 10 Ten Years of Woodcutting: Cutting out a piece of historical sky on the Internet

The first thing I knew about "Ten Years of Woodcutting" was to read his comments on blogs and online forums.From the perspective of the flourishing of current affairs commentaries in the mainland Internet circle, it is not easy for "Ten Years of Cutting Firewood" to become popular, but it is only natural.Because on the one hand, he has shown his familiarity with the government structure, policy content, and officialdom order;Later I learned that he also set up a column in other media to comment on the history of the Ming Dynasty, forming "The Emperor, Civil Officials and Eunuchs--The "Love Triangle" of the Political Situation of the Ming Dynasty" and "The Seventy Years of the Late Ming Dynasty--1573-1644, from Zhongxing To the Fall, Volume Two.In particular, the latter not only attracted attention when it was serialized, but also appeared on the bestseller list in real time after the book was published. Together with other famous blogs such as "Bright Moon of the Year", it turned the past year into what the media called "next year" (meaning "next year"). belonged to the year of the Ming Dynasty").I specially drafted ten questions, and asked Brother "Chopwood" to talk about his unique "folk historiography".

Ten years of chopping firewood, whose real name is Li Yong, was born in a village in central Hunan in the early 1970s. He grew up chopping firewood and herding cattle while studying.In 1989, he was admitted to the Chinese Department of Lanzhou University, and it was the first time he left his hometown.After graduation, he went to Beijing and successively worked in a state-owned enterprise, a State Council agency and the Legal Daily.Published "Looking at the Water Margin--Liangshan Rules and the World of Jianghu in the Cracks of Words", "Emperor, Civil Officials and Eunuchs--The "Love Triangle" of Ming Dynasty Political Situation", "Seventy Years of the Late Ming Dynasty--1573-1644, from From ZTE to Fall."And write columns in many media.

Ten Years of Chopping Firewood was born in an isolated rural area in Hunan. From the age of six to sixteen, he often made a living by chopping firewood for nearly ten years, so he also used this pen name to commemorate his childhood life when he grew up.The people in the place where he grew up were illiterate, and the basic education originated from ancestor worship and family history education, so the method of teaching history is often used in simple stories. He used to be the mouthpiece of the government in the official media, but found his own space on the Internet, which has since become his writing platform.He usually reads books on history and sociology, and at the same time makes some reading notes, and also writes about a thousand words of current reviews or essays for newspapers.

Liang Wendao (Liang)/Ten Years of Chopping Firewood (10) Liang: It seems that your experience is very rich. How did you embark on the road of writing? What is the allusion to the pen name "Ten Years of Chopping Firewood"? Ten: Because writing is the best way I survive.I grew up in a closed rural area in central Hunan, and reading was the only way out.Later, I came to Beijing by chance and worked as a reporter for the Legal Daily. This profession is to make a living by writing.But you know, working as a journalist in the mainland's official media is more about propaganda, writing some words that I also find boring, all for the sake of rice.There is nothing more tragic than this for a person who makes a living by writing.It was only in 2002 that I started to get in touch with the Internet, and found that there is still a place in the world where the state of writing is relatively free and can be expressed authentically.So I started surfing the Internet, and created a random online name to commemorate the days when I was chopping firewood in my hometown—it was almost ten years, from the age of six to sixteen.Unexpectedly, writing on the Internet was unintentional, and later it had some influence. This name was used for non-service writing, and it would not be worthwhile to change it to another name.It seems that this name is not so serious, but before the birth of the Internet, Pingjiang Buxiaosheng and Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng were still used as pseudonyms.

Liang: You became famous on the Internet, what kind of publishing space do you think this is, and how is it different from traditional paper media? Ten: When I first wrote for the media I worked for, it was entirely an act of duty, almost not speaking my own words. Before that, I wrote speeches for leaders in government agencies, which was even more of a crime.Writing for the Internet is all personal writing.This is the first time I have changed from the official media I worked for to the Internet; later, some paper media with a relatively high degree of marketization asked me to write current commentary and cultural columns, which can be regarded as returning to traditional media from the Internet.Of course, the landscape in my eyes this time is different from the landscape in the first stage.It is the Internet that liberates my writing state. Without the Internet, I am afraid that I will spend my whole life writing articles for orders.

Liang: At first I thought that most of your writing was commentary on current affairs, but then I realized that you have so many different types of creations.Do you think current affairs commentary has anything to do with your history writing? Ten: Mr. Yu Yingshi said: "Historiography has a very clear and dynamic relationship with the times. The establishment of this relationship depends on whether the historian has a feeling for his era, whether he has penetrated deeply, and whether he always pays attention to real life. It’s a problem.” Although I dare not call it a historian, as a history buff, although I can’t reach it by this standard, I yearn for it.Westerners say that all history is contemporary history, while ancient Chinese believed that history can be used as a mirror to know the ups and downs, and the meaning is almost the same.History is by no means a corpse placed in a laboratory for dissection, it is not static.Therefore, people with a real sense of history will definitely pay close attention to practical issues, which is what Sima Qian is pursuing: "understanding the changes of the past and the present", trying to connect with reality and give a suitable explanation to history.My strong interest in history has something to do with the environment and experience I grew up in.The village where I grew up lived together, and the Li clan moved to that county in central Hunan in the Song Dynasty, and it has multiplied to this day.In my hometown without a modern religious atmosphere, ancestor worship and family history education are the most basic education given to us by our elders. Illiterate farmers attach great importance to genealogy and county names. My grandfather, who never left the South all his life, often told me that our Li family is They came from Longxi, and my grandfather told me that their Wang family was from Taiyuan. These two old farmers from Hunan did not know where Longxi and Taiyuan were until they died.Later, I was admitted to Lanzhou University. Lanzhou belonged to Longxi County in ancient times, and it can be regarded as returning to the place where my ancestors originated.Later, the real situation made me have a desire to observe the history and the present.For a person who loves history, it is a kind of luck to experience the great changes of the times.When I was eleven years old, I witnessed the dissolution of the People's Commune, but a few days ago, people's communes were still being promoted everywhere.Officials covertly say that this is not a single-handed operation, but a "joint production contract responsibility system", and farmers put it bluntly as "dividing fields to households."Farmers with little book knowledge are often able to put aside the ideological smokescreen and describe it in more precise historical language. For example, regarding the famine in the early 1960s, farmers in their hometown never followed the official meaning to describe it as a "three-year natural disaster." Instead, it says "living a hard life", which is very precise and neutral.After graduating from university, he was assigned to the state-owned 744 Factory in the northeastern suburbs of Beijing. This is a large-scale military enterprise built with the aid of the Soviet Union in 1956. It is adjacent to the 798 Factory, which is now a paradise for artists. As soon as he went there, he encountered the reform of state-owned enterprises, and a large number of workers were laid off. , the company was heavily in debt, so it had to engage in debt-to-equity swaps. After listing, it used the money of shareholders to save the old horse that was dying.Two years later, I took the civil servant examination and entered the Ministry of Justice. After working for nearly four years, I encountered the great reform of the State Council led by Zhu Rongji in 1998. Then I became a reporter and saw more about China.Once my personal history collides with the history of the country I have been paying attention to, I may have a deeper understanding of reality, and I can't help thinking, why is there such a big change?Why did it become like this?History, of course, is an excellent resource for observation and analysis of these issues.So when I read the works of Mr. Huang Renyu, Yu Yingshi, Tang Degang, Qin Hui, Wu Si, etc., I often feel enlightened, and many depressed things in my heart are knocked away.I often say that I am half old and half new, a political reporter living in ancient times.

Liang: Are you afraid that others will say that your history has too many allusions to current politics and is not objective enough? Ten: There is no purely objective history, and historians must have subjectivity in writing books.Confucius wrote "Spring and Autumn", there is a strong value choice, the so-called "pen cut", so there is "fear of chaotic officials and thieves", Sima Guang also upholds this view of history.At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Liang Rengong, the founder of new historiography, proposed to seek historical karma, and these people had a strong focus on reality.But if one presupposes a political concept first, and then finds examples from history to prove it, this is vulgar history serving reality and alluding to historiography, so we must be vigilant.Mr. Yu Yingshi believes that such an approach is also dangerous, "Because people who write history with this kind of thinking, if they are not restricted by strict scientific methods, it is easy to embark on the road of distorting historical facts in order to make sense." It is extremely pertinent advice to us "historical fans".The so-called scientific method, my understanding is that first, it must be rigorous and fair in the possession and selection of historical materials; second, it must have strict logic in analysis and argumentation.Of course, this standard is very high, and if you don't pay attention, you will slip into blunt and vulgar allusions.

Liang: After writing two books on Ming history, why are you so interested in the Ming Dynasty?In recent years, there seems to be a Ming Dynasty craze in mainland China. What do you think of this trend?What is the main difference between you and other equally well-known authors? Ten: The cultural character and collective psychology of modern Chinese people, I think, had been formed in the Ming Dynasty.Mr. Bo Yang, who just passed away, made no secret of his dislike of the Ming Dynasty in his book, and in a book he inherited Lu Xun's criticism of the inferiority of the people and lashed out at the culture of sauce vats.The two are somehow related.The Ming Dynasty is not only closer to today, but also the system designer of the peak period of the development of Chinese imperial power politics.The cultural genes and institutional genes of our Chinese society today have a lot to do with the dynasty that perished three or four years ago.Sometimes, I even feel like I'm still living in the extended period of the Ming Dynasty.This may also be related to the fact that I live in Beijing. The city of Beijing was established in the Ming Dynasty. Although many buildings have been destroyed, those place names always touch you.I used to live in an alley in Dongcheng District for several years. This alley used to be the seat of the Daxing County Government in the Ming Dynasty. The county magistrate Wang, who defied the power to flog music and dance students, lived here.Going further to the west, the so-called "Dongchang Hutong", "Baochao Hutong" and "Bingmasi Hutong" often produce the feeling of going back in time and space.The four great classics now respected, except for the other three, plus, "Sanyan Erpai" were all produced in the Ming Dynasty. People who are a little literate read these books without feeling strange, not only because they are vernacular novels, but also in the late Qing Dynasty. Many vernacular novels should be better understood.The key is that the values ​​and social forms expressed in these novels can be understood and comprehended by people today.For Huang Renyu's grand view of history and Wu Si's theory of unspoken rules, the historical data foundation of their theoretical construction is basically the Ming Dynasty, which can explain the problem very well.

Liang: You seem to be very much influenced by Huang Renyu. Many people criticize his books for being too novel-like. What do you think?Your first book was about, what do you think is the difference between history and fiction? Ten: That is a way of expression, not an academic flaw.If you read Mr. Huang’s book on the financial system of the Ming Dynasty, you won’t have such a statement—because it is a book that he completely caters to mainstream academic norms in order to get a doctorate.and other works, Mr. Huang mainly expounds his view of history, which is popular and vivid in expression, but can stand examination in terms of historical facts.As for some descriptions, novel techniques are used, which is normal.For example, when writing about Hai Rui, it is enough to have some historical facts. If every line of dialogue must be consistent with objective facts, it is almost impossible.In Sima Qian's "Historical Records", there are many such writing methods. He did not experience the Hongmen Banquet, but he wrote the expressions and speeches of Liu, Xiang and others vividly.Aristotle said: "Poetry is truer than history books." This means that poetry describes a more general fact.Yu Yingshi said: "The influence of history does not necessarily come directly from the history books themselves, but can also come from novels." The study of "historical influence" and "historical karma" is of course historiography.The words of Zhang Xuecheng in the Qing Dynasty went even further: "Comparing the whole series is called historical writing; consulting and researching is called historical research; neither is historiography." Obviously he believes that the kind of historical construction and historical criticism is historiography .I thought that historical writing and historical research are also part of historiography, but of course not all of them.Therefore, it is not a bad idea to use "Three Words and Two Pai" as the material of historical research.But there is still a fundamental difference between history and historical fiction.Historical fiction is a projection of the author's historical environment, and its facts may not be true.For example, we need to understand that this is a reflection of the society of marginalized people in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, including Lin Chong and Wu Song who entered the prison. We must accept the bad rules and the various methods used by the inmates to tell Wu Song that the jailers killed prisoners, which is completely consistent with the historical records of the Ming Dynasty. .Historical works must not be sloppy in terms of historical facts, laws and regulations, etc., and historical novels are as fictitious as possible. This is the difference between "Three Kingdoms" and "Three Kingdoms".But the paradox is that historical novels have a greater influence on the public than history books. Only scholars or people with considerable knowledge of humanities and history know that Cao Cao is definitely not the sinister and sinister image described in operas.Chinese historical novels are popular in Japan. These two are illustrations of "Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" painted by Daito Katsushika in the late Edo period of Japan.

Liang: Why are there so many "joking" history books in recent years?I often see a whole cabinet of "joking about the dynasty" and "joking about the emperor" in bookstores. Is this related to the trend of TV dramas? Ten: Of course, TV dramas are powerful cultural media, and their influence cannot be compared with newspapers and books. It is normal to take advantage of this.Therefore, it can be said that Yi Zhongtian and Yu Dan's influence is huge, although it is related to their own cultivation, but CCTV's strong role in communication is even greater.It was the same in ancient times, when there were no TV movies, but storytelling and operas.According to Zhang Dai in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, just after Wei Zhongxian was cut off by Chongzhen, operas and scripts reflecting this event emerged in various places. This is obviously because commercial factors played an important role.In the late Ming Dynasty, Tang Xianzu and Ruan Dacheng and other talented scholar-bureaucrats were keen on writing operas, which is inseparable from the influence of operas. Liu Jingting, a storyteller, is very respected by literati for this reason. "In Zhaojiazhuang, the ancient willow in the setting sun, the blind old man is doing the field. Who cares what is right and wrong behind him, and the whole village talks about Cai Zhonglang." History has always been an important material for popular culture.

Liang: Besides you, there are quite a few writers who write about history on blogs. Does this mean that professional scholars can no longer monopolize the interpretation of history? Ten: Dividing historians by professional status is a product of the planned economy era, because the public power hopes to plan everything and control everything, so it strengthens its identification authority.No government-run organization recognizes you as a historian or writer, and it seems to be unreasonable.In fact, I think there can only be one universal standard for identifying historians or history buffs: academic standards.In this way, it can be divided whether the work is an academic article, a historical novel or a popular historical reading.And a person can write both academic papers and popular historical readings. Professional or officially recognized scholars have never had a monopoly on historical interpretation, only at times they wished to.Taking the right to interpret history is often not an academic pursuit, but a political intention. Liang: Do you like reading historical novels?Is there any special recommendation? Ten: Many mainland intellectuals in our age group are interested in history, probably from reading historical novels and storytelling.For example, Cai Dongfan's historical novels deeply influenced me when I was a child.In addition, I like the historical novels of Li Dongfang and Gao Yang, as well as the historical novels of Japanese Chinese Chen Shunchen. Liang: What is the next writing plan? Ten: There is no clear goal, mainly reading books on history and sociology, and taking some reading notes.What you usually see in newspapers is similar to yours, mostly current reviews or essays of about a thousand words.